1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to plate-like workpiece cutting machines, and more particularly to an improved unloading apparatus for a plate-like workpiece cutting machine. The unloading apparatus unloads workpieces smoothly without interference so as to prevent the workpieces from deformation and damage.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional plate-like workpiece cutting machine, such as a circuit board cutting machine, includes a faceplate 1 disposed with a plurality of locating pins 2 corresponding in positions to a plurality of locating holes 4 of circuit boards 3 to be cut. Accordingly, when a plurality of circuit boards 3 are mounted on the faceplate 1, the locating holes 4 are vertically aligned with one another for the locating pins 2 running there through such that the circuit boards 3 are stacked regularly on the faceplate 1 to facilitate cutting or other processing procedures. After the circuit boards 3 have been processed by the cutting or other processing procedures, it takes people to unload the circuit boards 3 from the faceplate 1 such that the unloading operation is not very smooth and it may damage the circuit boards 3 and results in wasting human resource and valuable time.
To improve the above-mentioned drawbacks, an improved unloading apparatus for the circuit board cutting machine was disclosed as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The improvement is characterized in that a carrier 6 is mounted on the faceplate 5 and is provided with a plurality of through holes 9 thereon. When the circuit boards 7 or other plate-like workpieces are stacked on the carrier 6, the locating pins 8 of the faceplate 5 are correspondingly inserted into the through holes 9 of the carrier 6 and the locating holes 10 of the circuit boards 7, thereby positioning and further processing the circuit boards 7. After processing the circuit boards 7, two block members 14 are driven forward respectively by two pneumatic cylinder 15 and then stopped against the faceplate 5, and the carrier 6 is lifted by a plurality of lift columns 12 driven by a pneumatic cylinder 11 such that the circuit boards 7 can be easily and smoothly unloaded from the locating pins 8. Although the above structurally improved unloading apparatus for the cutting machine can unload the circuit boards without people, while it's operated in practice, there are still disadvantages as follows:
1. When the lift columns 12 are driven by the pneumatic cylinder 11 to lift the carrier 6, if the lift columns 12 lift the carrier 6 too quickly, the carrier 6 may be deformed so as to hamper the lifting operation.
2. To prevent the lift columns 12 from contacting against the circuit boards 7 and further deforming and damaging the circuit boards 7, the carrier 6 must be installed between the circuit boards 7 and the lift columns 12 such that the whole structure of the unloading apparatus becomes complicated.
3. The faceplate 5 is provided with the through holes 13 for the lift columns 12 to run through such that the locating pins 8 as well as the locating holes are restrictedly positioned.